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National Instruments Corporation
21
SCXI Quick Start Guide
Step 13. Test the Chassis
Verify that MAX recognizes the chassis.
1.
Right-click the chassis name in the NI-DAQ API you want to test under
Devices and Interfaces.
2.
Select
Test
. If you are using NI-DAQmx and the test fails, a message
explains the failure.
Step 14. Configure Channels and Tasks
A
physical channel
is a terminal or pin at which you can measure or
generate an analog or digital signal. A
virtual channel
is a collection of
settings that can include a name, a physical channel, input terminal
connections, the type of measurement or generation, and scaling
information. In Traditional NI-DAQ and earlier versions, configuring
virtual channels is an optional way to record which channels are being used
for different measurements. In NI-DAQmx, virtual channels are integral to
every measurement.
In Traditional NI-DAQ, you configure virtual channels using MAX. In
NI-DAQmx, you can configure virtual channels with the DAQ Assistant,
which you can open from MAX or your application software. You also can
configure virtual channels with the NI-DAQmx API in your application
program.
A
task
, an important new concept for NI-DAQmx, is a collection of one or
more virtual channels with timing, triggering, and other properties.
Conceptually, a task represents a measurement or generation you want to
